Personal Accountability (Revised)

by 1November 28, 2010

A few months ago the media was filled with “The Global Summit Meetings” and our Climate crisis. Unfortunately, this is not news. Since the “Summit Meetings” we’ve experienced massive earthquakes around the globe, volcanoes’ erupting, tornadoes, and the continued devastation of our Indigenous people and their Ancestral lands. Our Natural World is erupting because of our choices.
For decades we've been advised of “the coming catastrophe” and what world leaders are not doing (as well as what we’re doing to speed up the catastrophe). Not much has changed. We’re unwilling to adjust our actions; we live in a state of denial hoping this mess will go away; we find excuses to blame world leaders for our complacency; we support industries that harm our world, so why are we surprised that our world is melting? We gave our power and intelligence away. That was their intent.
In our lifetime we’ve had illuminating leaders who have pointed us in a right and sustainable direction. We haven’t paid attention. We’ve chosen “the easy road” / a way of life that serves us instead of all people, and with that mindset, it’s no wonder that our world is melting and our people are suffering.
Although the list is endless, here is a small fraction of the wisdom and humanity that we’ve ignored:
The Chemical Industry: Over 40 years agoRachel Carson published“Silent Spring” and revealed “the indiscriminate and widespread use of poisonous chemicals”. Ms. Carson noted “placing poisons on the surface of the earth, making it unfit for all life; a power to alter and destroy nature and all life that should not be calledinsecticides but biocides.”Ms. Carson revealed what was occurring yet we continue to purchase tons of chemicals that go onto our lawns, our gardens, down our drains, into our groundwater. We were well informedabout a “Silent Spring”but did nothing to alter the course.
One consequence of “doing nothing” is we’ve lost 50% of our Songbirds due to pesticides. Why? There are numerous reasons, here is one: Birds migrate to South America’s Coffee plantations = Coffee is a “heavily sprayed” crop = Birds eat seeds & berries = die from ingesting pesticides. Question: What are we doing to change this? Do we buy “Fair Trade, Sustainable and Organic Coffee” (practices that ensure everyone wins / everything stays alive) or do we support Starbucks, WalMart, McDonald’s (or whatever else is “cheap” at the local store)? Our Bees are in distress(pesticides)our fish are unsafe to eat (chemicals in our groundwater) as are “Factory Farmed” Beef, Pork and Poultry. We can’t drink our water and our air is polluted. Fact: When Ms. Carson’s work was published the Chemical industry lobbied hard against her findings(they also lobbied hard to label her “a quack”).Today they’re still lobbying against anyone or anything that goes against the widespread use of chemicals. (They were “front row center” at The Global Summit meetings). Who’s the quack?
Another example of the wisdom we’ve received is Gandhi. Perhaps one of Gandhi’s most notable expressions is “be the change you want to see in the world.” Are we enacting the change that we want to see in the world? Gandhi exemplified “when a people come together they can change the world.” Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela revealed the same. Michael Moore showed us the destruction that Wal-Mart causes (yet Wal-Mart continues to be a “booming” business). John Lennon gave us “Imagine,” Willy Nelson brought “Farm Aid” to our collective consciousness, Barbara Kingsolver brought us “supporting local economy (vs.) made in China”; the “Slow Food” movement revealed the destructive practices of the “Fast Food” Industry (which destroys Rain Forests, Indigenous Cultures & family values). Our list of role models is endless, yet the choices we’ve made are obvious. What will it take for us to be accountable? Our actions have caused annihilation. The damage is not in the hands of our world leaders, it’s in ours. We are the world.
If we look back to an earlier time, a time before chemicals, our gardens, farmlands and wildlife were abundant and our water was pure. We were informed. We had the choice of “abundance and purity” or “chemically laced everything.” We are now living in a time where our choices are obvious.
Side note: if you would like to see what our choices have had on an innocent, Indigenous people, please see the movie “Crude - The True Price of Oil”. This movie will also reveal how deeply uncaring and inhumane the Chemical and Oil Industries are. “The True Price of Oil” (of course not a “Hollywood” blockbuster) reveals that our choices have caused this / we’re oblivious to what our consumptions have on other people / for the most part we don’t give a shit.
Another example of how our consumerism affects other people: I’ve just read Ashley Judd’s article on “the rape of men, women and children currently going on in the Congo over precious metals” (the precious metals that fire up our electronics). Yes, our computer, cell phone, iPad, NotePad, etc., all come with the hefty price tag of someone being raped. (Please know that if I am privy to this horror, the “Electronic industry” is aware of it as well). Obviously, they are doing nothing about it. We are the ones that can stop this atrocity becausewe are their bottom line. (Nothing makes an unethical corporation take notice more than their “bottom line”). Without us, there is no “bottom line”.
When did we become the kind of people that stopped caring about other people and the affect we have on them? If after watching this movie (and after reading what’s going on in the Congo) we are not moved to adjust one of our daily actions, as well as taking action against this inhumanity, then I believe “as a people” we are lost. No question about that.
If we listen to the wisdom and humanity that has informed us, and we begin to support ethical companies and practices, I believe we would create, as Louie Armstrong once sang, “What a Beautiful Word.”
I believe we can accomplish this … if we come together as “a people”
As always, the choice is ours
Elise Muller, Proprietor / Artisan
Mountain Spirit Botanicals (Fair Traded; Organic; Ethical; Zero Chemicals)